Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar: The flair for name-dropping | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar: The flair for name-dropping

ByPushkar Sohoni
Jun 04, 2023 12:08 AM IST

How no single historical personage can accommodate a rich pluralistic history as part of their legacy

MUMBAI: Earlier this year, Aurangabad had its name officially changed to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The Supreme Court of India opined that this was within the democratic realm of government. Cities had been renamed before to align them with names in regional language usage (Kolkata) or to rescue them from a colonial twang (Trivandram). However, Aurangabad was a case in which the Mughal emperor, after whom the city was named, was now popularly perceived as a villain.

Aurangzeb had a long association with the city, having been resident there twice -- as viceroy and later as emperor. The urban fabric of the city had been undeniably shaped by Mughal rule. The Mughals themselves had changed the name of the city from its earlier name of Khadki. (HT PHOTO)
Aurangzeb had a long association with the city, having been resident there twice -- as viceroy and later as emperor. The urban fabric of the city had been undeniably shaped by Mughal rule. The Mughals themselves had changed the name of the city from its earlier name of Khadki. (HT PHOTO)

Aurangzeb had a long association with the city, having been resident there twice -- as viceroy and later as emperor. The urban fabric of the city had been undeniably shaped by Mughal rule. The Mughals themselves had changed the name of the city from its earlier name of Khadki.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

It had been founded by Malik Ambar in 1610, and was a relocation of the original city of Kataki which was at the base of the Daulatabad hill. Daulatabad was also a new name for the Yadava citadel of Devagiri. However, all these names had an historical event or provenance, at least partially justifying the changes. Along those lines, Aurangabad could have been changed to Maliknagar; after all, Malik Ambar (1548-1626) is a figure celebrated in Maharashtra. As a general of African origin, he came to Ahmednagar, and in the civil wars of the late sixteenth century, established himself as one of the leaders of a Habshi-Maratha axis, with able leaders like Shahaji Bhonsale (1594-1664) by his side. He is credited with several features that defined Maratha tactics, like bargir-giri or guerilla warfare. He also provided major resistance to the Mughals, who could not penetrate the northern Deccan convincingly as long as he was alive. In many ways, he set a stage for the independent Maratha kingdom. He did all this as the de facto Regent of the kingdom of Ahmednagar. After Malik Ambar, Shahaji Bhonsale had also valiantly tried to defend and revive the kingdom of Ahmednagar till 1636. Thus, the kingdom of Ahmednagar is imbricated in early Maratha history.

A chequered history

Now, as of a few days ago, we have a new announcement: the city of Ahmednagar is to be named Ahilyanagar, for political and partisan considerations. The city was founded by Ahmed Nizam Shah (d.1509) on the banks of the Sina river. The fort of Shivneri, where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680) would later be born, was the place where Ahmed Nizam Shah had declared independence from the earlier Bahmani kingdom, as a son of the soil. Their family were the Kulkarnis of Pathri, and Ahmed Nizam Shah’s father had been assassinated at the Bahmani court in a court intrigue against the local faction of Dakhanis.

From his capital at Shivneri, Ahmed Nizam Shah would mount a campaign every year to try and capture the strategic and affluent fort city of Daulatabad, which he did a few years later in 1499. He founded the city of Ahmednagar in 1494, midway between Shivneri and Daulatabad. A settlement of this size was possible only because of water management technologies that the Deccan sultanates had at their disposal. Several other cities, including the erstwhile Aurangabad could not have sustained their urban scale without the use of qanats, aqueducts, siphon towers, and other water devices that were imported from West Asia. This robust exchange of ideas, goods, and people between West Asia, Africa, and the Deccan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had created a unique culture where a cosmopolitan outlook could easily exist with parochial sensibilities. Sanskrit works like ‘Rasamanjari’ of Bhanudatta and ‘Pashuramapratapa’ of Sabaji Prataparaja were composed at court, along with Persian compositions like the ‘Tarif-i Husain Shah’. It was a major centre of Persian and Dakhani literature. Perhaps the name that carries on significantly is that of Shah Sharif, the Sufi who was venerated by Maloji Bhonsale when he wanted children; the sons were named Shahaji and Sharifji after him.

It is useful to remember in this context that the Nizam Shahs were the dynasty that resisted the Mughals valiantly for over 60 years, from the first incursions to the Deccan under Akbar in the 1570s, to the final takeover under Shah Jahan in 1636. Theirs was also the dynasty with two heroic women, Khunzada Humayun and Chand Bibi, stories of whom are in local lore regionally even today. Several important families, such as the Bhonsales, Jadhavraos, and Khandagales, among others, comprised the nobility of the Ahmednagar kingdom. Both the grandfathers of the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had served the kingdom.

Ahmednagar, a melting pot

Ahmednagar would serve as the Nizam Shahi capital till 1600. The sixteenth century saw enormous building projects, including multiple palaces in the city, along with other cultural expressions, such as a proliferation of literature and painting. Several Sanskrit, Persian and Dakkani works were written in this period in the kingdom, and Sufis and Bhakti saints such as Shah Sharif and Eknath also operated in these domains.

The Mughals rid themselves of the Nizam Shahs by 1636, and firmly established themselves in the Deccan. From the embers of the Nizam Shahs, the Maratha kingdom was established. The resistance of the Nizam Shahs to the invasive Mughals, and the fall of Ahmednagar to them, served as a catalyst for the Marathas to coalesce under a new regime. The last champions of Ahmednagar were two people who came from communities that had been close to power, but were always considered marginal: Malik Ambar of the Siddis, and Shahaji Bhonsale of the Marathas.

The historic city of Ahmadnagar was multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, a tradition that continues today. Ahmednagar continues to have diverse and intertwined connections between various communities. After all, Dakhani is still spoken in pockets, and the devotional traditions have long operated in a complex world of religious domains. There is an ecumene of practices that emphasise lineages and spiritual teachers within which formal sectarian affiliation matters little.

Various historical saints like Sant Shaikh Muhammad of Shrigonda in Ahmednagar district are mentioned in the ‘Bhaktavijaya’, and share narratives with Sant Tukaram. It is therefore not surprising that Meher Baba chose the outskirts of Ahmednagar city as his base, and established his ashram at Meherabad, ensuring a steady flow of devotees, many from abroad. That, along with the large army bases around the city, ensured that a certain cosmopolitanism survived well into the twenty-first century.

Several merchant communities came to Ahmednagar to supply the garrison. The city has a large Jain population. After World War I, a German prisoner-of-war camp was set up near the cantonment. Popular English comedians like Spike Milligan were born in Ahmednagar. The fort of Ahmednagar, though in possession of the army, has inside it a compound in which major nationalist leaders were imprisoned after the Quit India movement. Fittingly, in this custody, Nehru wrote ‘The Discovery of India’, which applauds the composite cultures and diverse demographics of India.

Outside Ahmednagar fort is a spot marked by three cannons where Lord Wellesley had breakfast after capturing the fort in 1803, as the plaque there declares. The last time we visited it, two women came on a scooter, and proceeded to worship them. One of the cannons was cast by a Turkish artillery officer naturalised in India, in a Persianised kingdom ruled by a Dakhani, was captured by the English from the Marathas, and at this moment is in active worship as a Hindu deity! That moment captured the palimpsest of the city of Ahmednagar, with its storied multi-cultural history. No single historical personage can accommodate such a pluralistic history as part of their legacy.

It is indeed a sorry state of affairs that the name of the city can be changed so easily, with no consideration of the nuanced and kaleidoscopic history of Ahmednagar and the Maratha Swarajya. The city also has military associations, and is a part of the struggle for Indian Independence. While renaming cities as a political strategy has a long history, there are many attributes of Ahmednagar that cannot be singularly highlighted.

It is true that Ahilyabai Holkar was born in Chondi in Ahmednagar district, but that association only enhances the importance and historicity of the place. The name of the city does not need to be changed. Arbitrarily changing names of cities is tantamount to erasing our own history, and not unlike demolishing a monument. The expense of renaming a city is enormous, involving hundreds of crores of rupees spent in relabeling. Patrimony that should be permanent is being sacrificed for petty politics. Tax-payers’ money could instead be used for the betterment of a place and its people.

(Pushkar Sohoni is an associate professor in the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IISER, Pune.)

BLURB:

This robust exchange of ideas, goods, and people between West Asia, Africa, and the Deccan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had created a unique culture where a cosmopolitan outlook could easily exist with parochial sensibilities.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On